Wet, Wet, Wet

So this is it kids, last day of work before the real hard yakka starts.

A smart person would have been banking sleep like it was gold but not me, I seem to have been burning both ends of the candle for a few months now and it is only going to get worse for a few weeks yet.

Come December 26th, I will be off on an adventure, sailing in the Sydney Hobart yacht race.

We are just starting to get a picture of what to expect weather wise but as with all weather related shenanigans and this race, you just never know until you are in it.

A good friend and I were laughing that it is one of those races where everyone wants the great downhill run in fine weather but if you finish a heavy weather race then everyone is just as happy to have the story that they got there.

Is it really dangerous? yeah it can be. Is it fun? well it depends on your perspective on life.

It is a challenge, if you like challenges, if you like pushing through, if you like having no other option than to finish the job or just lay down and die then yeah, it is fun.

People often wonder why would you put yourself in that position. I think some do it because they enjoy the competition, others love the open ocean and the isolation from our comfortable and hermetically sealed little lives, some do it because it is a badge of honour or way to get a shirt that buys a little extra cred at the local yacht club.

For me it is the competition and the isolation. Sailing is just great fun and coming on watch to see water and rolling waves in every direction, to know that there is no stop button and to know that the you and the other lumps of meat on this piece of plastic are truly insignificant puts your life in perspective.

It is a frivolous folly that proves nothing and risks everything. An ocean race can be a lifetime of joy, terror, beauty and reward crammed into a few days.

The sea could swallow you and it would not care. It makes up two thirds of our planet and yet it is as foreign as outer space. Anyone silly enough to think it is tamed is only one rogue wave away from being evicted from this life.

I am excited. I am grinning just thinking about it.

Before all that though I have another big dance party to get through then all the family crap over Christmas. I don't know why, and I hope I could change it if I had kids of my own but Christmas just gets on my nerves.

I love my family and am close with the them but the extended family just bore me. I am choosy about who I sit down to break bread with and these are people I would not choose if given the chance. Sure they are nice enough but...I dunno.

All those, "when are you going to find a nice girl", "must be time you produced a grand kid for your parents" comments are likely to result in spontaneous violence.

The consumer driven Christmas thing winds me up too. I like buying special gifts for a special or spontaneous moment but being told it is Christmas and you have to supply gifts NOW just gives me performance anxiety.

The end result is that I choose not to play that game which then results in guilt when sitting around a Christmas tree being given gifts and not having any to give back to people you don't care about. Fuckedy fuck'nfuck.

Every year it seems to be this crazy rush at work just so you can all have a break at the same time. Most of my customers don't have more than a day off at this time of year so seem to resent that we do. Fuckers.

I am trying to respond less to their pressure but it is a battle of epic proportions. A classic example;

Customer: We want product X by Y in colour Z.
Me: Sure thing, you will have to order that yesterday and pay a penalty to jump the que.
Customer: Not a problem, transferring a 5 figure sum now.
Me: Thanks for the order, just confirming in writing that it is model X in colour Z with a shipping date of T.
Customer: Yes that is all correct, thanks so much for pushing this through...

Two weeks into production.....

Customer: Ah, we have a small problem.
Me: haha, no you have a small problem but please tell me about it.
Customer: It seems that between the media buyer and advertising agency there was bit of a mix up with the client. The client does not want colour Z, it has to be a mix of A & B.
Me: That is a bugger, we just finished cutting it out.
Customer: how much is that going to cost them?
Me: At least your five figure deposit...
Customer: I'll call you back.
Me: make it quick, the shipping date of Y was dependent on the job starting two weeks back...
Customer: yeah but you can't let us down ok...

24 hours later and still no call. At 1:30 today I stop answering the phone. Idiots. I know what is waiting for me in January and that rogue wave is looking like a great friend and an elegant escape.

I will squeeze in one more post before I say good bye to 2007 so see you then.